WILMINGTON, Mass. — If being willing to do anything to cheer up sick kids could earn a player votes for the Norris Trophy, then there’d be no way Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom would again edge out Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara next summer.

By now, you’ve seen the photos of Chara dressed in a pink bunny suit during a Halloween-themed visit to youngsters in the hospital.

Probably the only thing bigger than the 7-foot rabbit was the smile of each kid’s face over the course of the visit. Despite what teammate Brad Marchand described as one kid misidentifying Chara as an alien instead of a bunny, it was the type of day that shows how big of heart Chara can be.

“It was fun. It was a really good experience,” said Chara after practice today at Ristuccia Arena. “Obviously it was something that was very important to me and obviously to us, as a team, and to the community, and I really had a good experience, a good time. And hopefully it serves well for the kids and families.”

So, a few points:
1)Yes, MattK you can still totally make fun of them, just can’t call them “losers” etc.
2) I found a new desktop background
3) That kid from a Christmas story sure did eat his vegetables after that fateful BB gun incident
4) Caveman McQuaid must have left his hockeystick…I mean club… in the car
5) I have never seen a better hockey related picture, not even the flying goal. I mean, come on! The fact that this was taken at children’s hospital says oodles and oodles about the team.
6) I’m really glad there was a PR guy there.

I hadn’t seen this picture…pure awesomeness! Where do you find a 6’9″ bunny costume? Is it just me or does he look like Hodge-Podge from Bloom County? And Marchand as The Little Prince…funny! Have to give all four of these guys credit for doing this. I can’t imagine Pronger or one of the Staal’s taking the stick out of their a$$es long enough to have this kind of a laugh at themselves. And all for a good cause. Serious good Karma I think.

And stuff like this is why I like hockey players more than baseball, football and basketball players. While the NBA players are squabbling about how many millions they will make, these guys are dressing up in order to cheer kids up. Class acts.